by Virna DePaul
As she stared down into Caleb’s beautiful eyes, Wraith suddenly realized what he was giving her. Not just sexual satisfaction, but sexual empowerment. Apparently he’d sensed how vulnerable she’d been feeling. And instead of taking further advantage of that, he was giving her control. Making her take what she wanted.
When she moved to straddle him, he lightly clasped her hips, helping her to kneel above him so that his penis nudged at the entrance of her opening.
Caleb relaxed back and watched her, his eyes narrowing when she cupped her breasts with her hands and tweaked her own nipples. He forced himself not to reach out for her, although he couldn’t help arching his hips so that his cock dragged against her mound. She was so wet he could feel her lube slicking over his cock.
He crossed his arms behind his head, striving to appear casual but knowing if he didn’t restrain his hands he’d be pulling at her. Overwhelming her. Ravaging her. And he didn’t want to ravage her. Not now. He wanted her to take him, just as he’d said. “Show me. Show me what you want.”
She hesitated, then moved off him. Kissed him gently. Her tongue moved tentatively over his lips, becoming more assertive when he opened his mouth eagerly. She pulled away and showered kisses down his throat and over his chest. Then his abdomen. Her fingers moved lower, caressing his quivering muscles until he thought he would die from frustration. Then she dipped them even lower and cupped him in her hand.
His breath exhaled in a ragged moan of pleasure. She squeezed him tighter, moving her hand up and down the entire length of him. His hands left his head and grabbed her hair, pulling her down for a kiss.
He could feel her passion spike along with his. She pulled away and knelt over him, her face within a hairbreadth of his cock. She grasped him with both of her hands, running them up and down him like a favorite new toy. He felt his balls tighten in preparation for an explosive orgasm.
“Please!” The word exploded from him.
She looked up at him seductively. “Please what?”
“Suck me, Wraith.”
Her gaze shot to his, then back down. Despite his calm words, his dick was fairly vibrating in anticipation. She licked her lips and slowly bent forward. When she awkwardly closed her mouth around the tip of him, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
She’d obviously never given a blow job before. She moved her mouth awkwardly, catching him a couple of times with the edge of her teeth. It didn’t matter. She caught on fast, taking encouragement from his groans of pleasure to use her hand in sync with her mouth. With her hand gently cupping his balls and her tongue swirling around the length of him, she drove him quickly toward climax until he had to yell for her to stop.
He reached down and moved her head away, dragging her up his body until she was straddling him. He reached down. She was so primed for him that his fingers slid easily into her. He hooked his fingers and pushed against her hot spot, at the same time rubbing his thumb aggressively against her clit.
She was the one screaming now. He waited until the spasms turned into ripples before making his next request.
“Now fuck me.”
She looked shocked again. He removed his hand and reached up, rubbing his fingers against her lips, forcing her to taste how ready she was for him.
“I want to be inside you, Wraith. Now. Fuck me.” He smiled wickedly at her. “Please.”
She reached for his cock and slowly guided him to the entrance of her body. He grabbed her hips lightly, not controlling her movements but offering support if she needed it. She slowly lowered herself onto him. She bit her lip and moaned.
Caleb couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was amazing. Sexy. Gorgeous. He wanted so badly to take control. Flip her over and thrust and pound and grind into her until his semen burst out of him in shocking waves of pleasure. But he could feel the tightness of her body. The hymen that even now was denying him access to her. This was for her.
Wraith felt dizzy with pleasure. She flattened her palms against the tense muscles of Caleb’s chest, marveling that as hard as his pecs were, his cock was even harder inside of her. His jaw was clenched as he visibly tried to restrain himself and she knew she should do it, thrust herself down onto him. She wanted to. Wanted to feel him completely invade her. But suddenly, she was scared. Not of the physical pain. Afraid that once she gave herself to him, there’d be nothing left but a limp quivering bundle of flesh, stripped raw of all defenses.
Unbelievably, the words, “I’m scared,” came out of her mouth.
He looked up at her and cupped her face. “I know, baby. But believe me. It’ll be worth the pain. Come on. Do it.”
She shook her head, trying to tell him she wasn’t scared of the pain. Trying to explain that he made her feel vulnerable in a way that no one ever had before. He made her want things. Silly things. Things that could never be hers. A little house with a vegetable garden in the back. Nights cuddled up close to a fire, drinking wine and playing strip poker. A minivan packed with kids to chauffeur back and forth to school. The chance to make love with him every day for the rest of her life. How could she tell him that’s what she wanted when it was such a ridiculous notion?
She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. It was impossible. It was nothing he wanted. Nothing he could give her.
She tried concentrating again on the moment. On the feel of his body under hers. On the intense desire she saw burning in his eyes. This was enough, she told herself. He was giving her what she needed. For just a moment. She could give that to him, as well.
She slowly lowered herself down another inch. Felt the barrier of her hymen break with absolutely no pain.
“You okay?” he breathed harshly.
She simply nodded, biting her lip to keep from moaning, but didn’t succeed. Neither did Caleb. Their moans melted together as one, melodic and harmonious. She pushed down even farther.
Caleb stared at her. “That’s the way. Go deeper.”
She kept going until he was almost fully inside her. Swiveling her hips at the last moment, she lifted herself off him. He groaned with frustration. She immediately sunk down, pushing hard until he was all the way inside.
Caleb reached down and rubbed her clitoris with his thumb. The jolt of pleasure caused her to moan and arch her hips. Her moan went up several octaves at the sensations that movement caused inside of her. Going on autopilot, she raised herself on and off him repeatedly, enjoying the drag of her sensitive skin against the hardness of his shaft. She was oblivious to how much time went by as she rode him. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. She was lost in sensation. Aware of nothing else. Until his fingers dug deeply into her hips and she heard him begging.
For a moment, she hesitated, but he wouldn’t let her back away. He reached down and played with her clit, relentlessly forcing her toward pleasure again until she screamed.
“Oh my God. I’m going to come. Come on, baby. Move faster. You’ve got to move faster.”
His words spurred her on until she was fairly bouncing on him, her breasts rocking in time to her movements. Her release was just out of reach and she wasn’t sure what she needed to do to grab it.
Caleb leaned up and gently bit one of her nipples. The shock of pain and pleasure made her scream, and caused her uterus to contract violently around him. Suddenly, she was there, hurtling herself over the side of the mountain with abandon, relishing the feeling of flying with each spasm of pleasure that racked her body. She could hear Caleb groaning as he flew with her.
When she landed, Caleb was lying back on the floor with his arms around her. Her head was resting on his chest, which rose and fell with each labored breath he took. His heartbeat thumped powerfully in her ear. She enjoyed the rhythm and closed her eyes, wondering if she could fall asleep like this.
Caleb’s cock, still lodged firmly inside her, had other ideas. It twitched and started to swell, growing inside her until she felt full to bursting. She leaned up and looked down at him.
He pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Ready for anoth
er round?”
“Don’t you need to rest?”
“Didn’t I tell you? In addition to being psychic, my ancestors blessed me with amazing stamina. I can go longer than any human ever could, Wraith. And with you, I’m betting I could outlast any Otherborn, too.”
“Really?” She trailed a hand down to his cock and caressed him until he shuddered. “Next time you have one of your visions, be sure to thank your ancestors for me,” she purred.
Wraith didn’t have any idea how many rounds made up a boxing match, but as time passed, she was fairly certain she and Caleb got close. The third time they made love he pinned her down and drove her crazy with his body and tongue, refusing to give in to her demands for release until he was ready. She’d been acutely aware of the fact that, despite her strength, he was even stronger. It was nothing she’d admit, but she wasn’t going to beat herself up about it, either.
They worked their way back to her hotel room between rounds three and four and kept going until hunger had finally forced Caleb away from her to grab some food.
His distance gave her the time she needed to think. It had been amazing, surrendering to her sexuality and allowing herself to feel pleasure without any kind of drug. The pain had been there, but at no time had it ever overwhelmed the pleasure Caleb had given her. That had never happened before, and she wondered if Caleb had some special ability to take away her pain as part of being a healer.
She’d have to ask him about that.
As she waited, she found her eyes getting heavier with what could only be sleep. Even as amazement tickled her mind, the darkness came over her.
When Wraith woke, she was alone in her bed. She was still naked, the flesh between her thighs aching and covered with dried semen. She heard water running in her bathroom and immediately rolled onto her side and closed her eyes before Caleb walked back in.
She was silent, aware that he was standing there looking at her. She didn’t know how long she’d been asleep or when he’d come back, but she expected him to leave and go back to his own room. Instead, he climbed under the covers, pulled her back into his chest, and wrapped his arms around her. “We need to talk, Wraith. I need to know what’s going on. Your appearance is changing. You’re sleeping. You don’t feel pain when I touch you. And your virginity. The second time—your hymen didn’t repair itself . . . not with me.”
She barely managed to choke out, “I don’t know . . .” Dear Essenia, she hadn’t even thought about that. “Shhh,” he said, stroking her hair. “I said we have to talk. But not now. Tonight, you just need to relax.”
She didn’t move at his words, but her mind raced, and tears came to her eyes. He sounded so reassuring. She could almost forget everything else. She remembered one thing, however—their conversation yesterday about the feline who’d betrayed her. Talking about Maria had somehow felt right to her. It hadn’t brought the pain the memories normally brought her, either. It had been as if Caleb’s mere presence had insulated her from the pain of the past. She wondered if somehow she could do that for him.
Tentatively, she said, “The feline who betrayed me?” The hand stroking her hair stilled and she felt the way he held his breath. “Her name was Maria. The mage said she did it to escape the feline heat. She wanted a cure. Hated the way it made her dependent on males day after day. The mage gave it to her. In exchange for . . .”
As her voice dropped, Caleb began stroking her hair again and finished for her. “In exchange for betraying you and other wraiths. She traded her own pain for the pain of others.”
“It’s what people have been doing since the beginning of time, I suppose,” she said. “It’s what . . . it’s what you’re doing, too, Caleb.”
He pulled away from her and sat up, the frown on his face as dark as his tone. “What does that mean? You think I’m causing someone pain in order to—”
She shook her head. Wrapped her arms around her bent knees. “No, that came out wrong. I just meant you’re using pain to balance things out, too. You feel responsible for Elijah’s death, and you’ve been torturing yourself over it. I know perfectly well that your service on this team is some kind of penance, just like I know Mahone manipulated your past to get you here. Just like he did to the rest of us. But I’ve read the reports, Caleb. I know why you refused to help the army interrogate Elijah, and it wasn’t because you didn’t care. You didn’t believe in what they were doing. They were torturing prisoners of war for information . . .”
“And in the end, what does that matter, Wraith? If I could have stopped your pain by helping that mage get the information he wanted—the secret to your immortality—wouldn’t you have wanted me to? Wouldn’t you have blamed me for any pain you suffered after I refused?”
His reasoning stopped her. Almost made her agree with him. But then she allowed herself to imagine that exact scenario, and she shook her head. “Someone who could do that to me for information wouldn’t do good things once he had it. He’d have wielded the knowledge of immortality for his own gain, regardless of how he hurt others. So would I blame you for letting me suffer because you didn’t want that to happen? No, Caleb. I wouldn’t. I’d hate the pain, but I wouldn’t hate you. And if Elijah was any kind of friend to you, he would have understood that. You didn’t kill him. His interrogator did.”
Caleb’s lips parted, and she saw the realization spark in his eyes, but only for a moment. The stubborn man, obviously too used to living with his guilt, pushed her words away. Reaching out, he pulled her to his chest again until they were spooning. His closeness felt so good, she remained quiet. He’d think about what she’d told him. That was enough for now.
Reaching out, he cradled her hand, his thumb smoothing over the three dots she’d noticed earlier. “What are these? Freckles?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” she whispered, but she immediately began thinking of her past again. Whether the dots were the gang symbol she thought they were. What that said about who she really was.
“Stop thinking. Go to sleep, Wraith. Everything’s going to be fine.”
She tried. She really did. But she couldn’t. Her mind was awash with worries. About their mission. The men who’d come after them. Her future, and if she even had one. Caleb’s future, if he had one, and whether he’d someday release the guilt that bound him in order to let himself be happy. Whether that happiness would include a female . . .
He sighed behind her. Nudged her legs apart with his thigh, interrupting her thoughts like a runaway train appearing out of nowhere. He nudged his cock inside her, and she winced slightly at the slow, insistent invasion. He didn’t stop until he was seated inside her fully. He cupped her breast with his right hand and nudged her hair away from her ear, kissing her gently. “I promise, Wraith. It’s going to be fine. Now go to sleep.”
After several stunned moments, Wraith realized he actually meant it. He was hard as a rock inside of her, but he made no move to satisfy himself. He actually expected her to accept his reassurances and go to sleep. It was so ridiculous that it actually worked. Filled up with him, she didn’t have the energy to think of anything else. She closed her eyes. Listened to him breathing. Felt the pulse of his heartbeat seep into her.
And fell asleep.
TWENTY-SIX
Knox stared at his brother for three seconds before he went for his throat.
Zeph didn’t try to dodge his grasp, even when Knox threw him against a wall and started to transform into a bigger, badder version of himself. Instead, Zeph watched the change quietly, his entire body indicating a quiet and calm acceptance of Knox’s wrath.
“Zeph,” their mother whispered from behind them. “How could you? How . . . ?” Her voice broke, and her loud sobs seemed suddenly muted.
Knox knew she’d turned her head into his father’s barrel chest, instinctively seeking her husband’s comfort after decades of having to do without it. Knox breathed in deep, trying to reconcile what his brother had just told him with the fear that was even now threatening to
dismantle his control.
Where was Felicia? He’d sent the guards after her the instant Zeph—
“Knox? What’s going on?”
When he heard her voice, the relief he felt almost drove him to his knees. His security team had been going over the security footage from the night of the wedding reception, but the Dome was a huge place and it was taking a significant amount of time. They were about halfway through the film, but other than Wraith’s brief wrestling match with Joanna’s boyfriend in the garden, nothing troubling had revealed itself. Certainly nothing to warn Knox about what his brother was mixed up in.
The entire room, Zeph included, sighed as one. Releasing his brother, Knox dove for his wife, encircling her in his arms so tightly, she gasped. Then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she could.
“Shhh,” she said before threading her hands through his hair, trying to calm him. “I’m here, Knox. Now tell me what’s wrong.”
With his face buried in the crook of her neck, Knox shook his head. Not yet, he thought. He couldn’t release her yet . . .
“Felicia,” Zeph began, “I was just telling Knox about an assignment I’d received.”
“Assignment?” Felicia asked over Knox’s head.
“Yes. An assignment to—”
Knox raised his head abruptly and whirled on his brother. “Stop! You’re not just going to blurt it out again.”
Zeph pressed his lips together, his expression no longer calm but angry. Knox stared at his brother, at the grimness of his expression, and couldn’t believe how thoroughly he’d deceived them all.
He felt Felicia’s hand on his arm. “Knox, it’s okay,” she said firmly. “Let Zeph speak.” When she raised her hand to cup his face and turn it toward hers, Knox grabbed it and kissed it. Then he glared at Zeph but said nothing more.
